PSA Peugeot Citroen and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Corp. will establish a leasing joint venture to boost sales of Peugeot and Citroen vehicles in China.

The 300 million yuan ($48 million) leasing company will be a 50-25-25 partnership among Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co., Dongfeng and Banque PSA Finance, PSA said.

Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen is a 50-50 production joint venture between PSA and Dongfeng. Banque PSA Finance is PSA¡¯s captive financial and mobility service provider.

The leasing company will be established in the central China city of Wuhan where Dongfeng and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen are headquartered. It will be mainly a captive finance company for Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, but also will provide leasing services for Citroen DS lineups produced by PSA¡¯s production joint venture with Changan Automobile Co. in the south China city of Shenzhen.

PSA needs a leasing company to help revive its flagging sales in China. In 2017, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen¡¯s deliveries slumped 37 percent year on year to 377,547 vehicles while Changan PSA¡¯s sales plunged 63 percent to below 6,000 vehicles.

In the first two months of this year, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen¡¯s sales slid 5.9 percent year on year to 46,614 vehicles, recovering in part on demand for two new models -- the Peugeot 5008 SUV and the Citroen C5 Aircross crossover, according to Dongfeng.

Sales of the Citroen DS models in China were unavailable for the two-month period.